Help and Instructions

Please select the topic to see answers to the most common questions about our search tools and services.

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About People Search

Listings Removal

Understand your Pricacy Rights and Removal Options
SearchBug and similar sites gather and display personal information from many sources including white pages listings (directory assistance), publicly-available sources and public records. Unfortunally, there is no single mechanism of suppressing your information from SearchBug and all the information broker databases on the internet at once.

Removal of "FREE Records" Listings
Free Records that originate and frequently updated from the local telephone directories can be removed at no charge by yourself. Please read and follow these instructions.

Run a search on your name. If the results show "# FREE Records" with your name and address you can remove those records from the free listings.

Click on your name at the address you want to remove from the Free Records results page.

In the upper right corner you will see a trash can icon and the word remove: Remove (click the trash can or the Remove link).

Removal is immediate, but it only affects the results found on SearchBug.com

Removal of "PREMIUM Records" Listings including the Free PREVIEW of Premium Listings
SearchBug Records are online public records. Public records information comes from files or records of local, state, federal or other government agencies, such as corporate and property records. Public records are created by the federal and local government agencies, (vital records, immigration records, real estate records, criminal records, etc.) or by the individual (magazine subscriptions, voter registration, sweepstake entries, home purchases, not opting out from financial institution marketing notices, etc.).

Original public records documents are maintained by the government and private data depositories, many of which are accessible to the public (usually for a fee).

SearchBug online data is as-is representation of underlying public records. Therefore, we are unable to guarantee the accuracy or add, update, or remove information at the original source. We can however block individual records from appearing in SearchBug PREMIUM Records..

Blocking of PREMIUM Records listings is a manual administrative process and does require payment for the administration of manually blocking records. Since data comes from several different provider feeds, we have no way to automate a process. Each removal request is based on a specific name or addresses and requires them to be manually verified and completed.

If you would like your information blocked from showing in the PREMIUM records preview, please follow the instructions below.

Enter your name and state in the people finder tool and click search.

Click on "Premium Records - free preview" tab.

Print the page with your listings.

Circle or highlight your listings to be removed.

Mail us the removal request and Include the following items:

A letter requesting we block your listing from appearing. With your name, complete current address AND signature

The print out of the page with your listings circled or highlighted.

A check for $20.00 payable to SearchBug, Inc.

Send your removal request to:

SearchBug, Inc.
c/o Removal
364 2nd St, Suite 4
Encinitas, CA 92024

Since we do not manage the data, we cannot guarantee it will not show up again, however, If your record appears again within 1 year, no fee is required to resubmit your request.

Limitations

Users with no account, a pass or subscription can perform 10 free people searches per day.

When limit is reached you can still search for people in the Premium (public records) database.

Members can get unlimited free searches

Search Tips

Simple Search

The search form located on the homepage is the most simple way to search for people.

Acceptable location formats: [ZIP Code], [City, State], [City] or [State]. Don't enter the brackets. To find people anywhere in the United States, leave the location field blank.

Advanced Search

This is the most flexible search option. It has very few limitations or required fields. Enter as much or as little information you know.

If you know the name, enter any name part or just initials. The first initial will return results for all first names starting with that letter.
Check the "Similar" box to include similar name matches (e.g. Rob, Robert, Bob, Bobby, Bobbi or Smith, Smyth, Olsen-Smith, Smith-Boone), otherwise we will search for the exact matches only.

You can get a list of all people living at a particular street if you don't specify the house number and enter street name only in the address field.

If you know the location, specify either city and state, just a city, just a state or zip code.
If you specify ZIP code, we will ignore the city and state, and will automatically determine a valid city/state combination for the entered ZIP code.

SearchBug can resolve city aliases even if the entered city is not a standard postal city. For example, you can enter NYC or Manhattan and get the results for New York, NY.
We also verify if the specified city is valid for the selected state.

When you check the "nearby" box, we will search the metro area or county based on the entered city-state combination or zip code.
The name of the searched nearby area will be indicated on the top of the results page.

If you know the phone number, you can type-in full or partial number starting with area code in any format. At least 6 first digits are required.

Sometimes area codes change/split and the old number you have may now be associated with a new area code.
To address this issue, we allow you to select a state and enter phone number without the area code. In this case, you need to enter at least 3 digits that follow the area code.

Search Results

If matching listings are found, summary of search results is displayed.

The maximum of 100 results is shown. You may want to narrow down your search criteria to see more reasonable number of relevant records.

We simultaneously search online phone directories (free information) and public records databases (premium data).
The two tabs on top of the page will show you the count of found records in each group.
If free data is found, you will see it first. Otherwise, the preview of premium data will be presented. You can switch between free and premium records by click on the tabs.

Free preview of premium data (unless you have a Business Account) will help you decide if you want to purchase that set of records.
The price will shown on the top of the page.

Once you pay with a Credit Card, PayPal or your Balance you will be able to see all the details for all premium records.
In needed, you can go back to free listings and return to premium results without a need to pay again.

Search Results can be displayed in a printer-friendly format. The "Print" button is in the top-right corner of the Results page.

Subscribed users will be able to sort people search results by name, address or phone number.

To see the listing details click on the person's name.

Listing Details

The details page shows the complete name and address with the zip code.

Under the listing you will find Additional Info that may include age, date of birth, county name, residence type (house/apt/rural route/etc.), year record verified, how long the person
was listed at this address, if a person moved within the same city and home phone service provider.

The map of the address is displayed below. Click on the link under the map to see a larger map that can be zoomed in and out.
For PO Boxes and addresses without a street address only city will be shown.

Listing details with a map can be displayed in a printer-friendly format for easy printing.
The print button is in the top-right corner of the Details page. Click on it and on the next page push the "Print this Page" button.

You can send found listing to a cell phone as a text message. Click on the link "Send to Phone" located in the top-right corner of the Details page

To remove your personal listing click on the "Remove" link in the top-right corner of the page.

You can order background check, property records another additional information of the subject person from the Details page.

About Company Search

Remove, Add & Modify Listings

SearchBug business listings come from Superpages.com. You can add or modify your business listings.
You will need to create a free account to maintain the listing. In addition to name and address you can create a business profile with URL, product or service description, methods of payment, etc.

There is also "Report Incorrect Listings" link on top and the bottom of business listings. Use it to quickly report the problem.

Search Tips

Simple Search

The search form located on the homepage is the most simple way to search for a business. Select "Search for Companies" radio button and enter keyword and location.

A keyword could be a business type, particular product, brand or service (e.g., airport taxi, flowers, plumber).

Enter a word related to the type of business you're interested in, for example "starbucks", "flowers" or "wedding flowers".

You can find businesses on a particular street (e.g. East Main) or at particular address (e.g. 100 Main). Enter street address.

Be sure to enter a city and a state, or a ZIP Code, when searching for a particular street.

To search in a particular location you need to enter either city and state, just a city, just a state or zip code.
To find businesses anywhere in the United States, leave the location field blank.

If know the phone number, you can enter full or a partial number in any format.
Entering a partial telephone number -- at least the area code plus a 3-digit exchange number -- will match all businesses within that particular exchange.

It is also possible to set a distance for your search from a particular location.
For example, you can search for a pizza restaurant within 5 miles of your workplace.
Matching listings will be sorted according to distance, with the closest businesses being displayed first.

About our Tools

Limitations & Subscriptions

Users with no account and no subscription can perform 10 phone verifications (landline vs. cellular), send 10 text messages
and run 20 IP address and e-mail searches per day.

Members can get unlimited access to those tools

Verify Phone Number

The "Landline or Cellular Phone" tool is using first 7 digits of the entered phone number to check what phone company the number was assigned to.

We do not take into the account changes made by customers as a result of number portability act. As a result, it is possible that the tool will report not current phone carrier.
However, research shows that people predominantly switched from one cell phone carrier to another and very few moved numbers from wireless to landline and visa-versa.
So, the tool is pretty accurate when reporting landline or cellular.

The data is updated monthly from the official sources (NANPA, CNAC, Regulatory, etc.).

About our Services

Sign up Process

There are no sign-up fees, but you will need to provide a valid US credit card and select prepaid plan.

The credit card information will be securely stored and used to pay your future orders.

Your e-mail address will be used as a login ID.

The password should be at least 8 characters long and contain one or more number or symbol.

You will be able select Personal or Business account type
(compare). You can change it later.

Reports

Deatailed usage statistics, previous searches, spending trends, billing details and the receipts for fee-based searches are available
in the Reports area of the My Account section. You need to login to access the reports.

The Reports Summary shows daily averages and totals for search costs and counts during the selected period.
You can also see cost summary per search type and a user, if you are an administrator of a multi-user business account.

For any report you can select preset date ranges (e.g. This Month, Last 7 Days, All Time) or enter custom dates.

Usage History report shows details for each search performed, inlcluding the user, date, cost and the query. The report can be sorted and filtered.

Billing Details report allow you to see all the charges to your credit card. You can also view and print a Receipt/Paid Invoice for all those charges. The billing report can also be sorted and filtered.